The latter
waits three hours and a half in the ante-chamber, is not admitted,
returns, and, at length received, is greeted with a thundering
exclamation:
"Who are you?"
"The public prosecutor," he replies.
"You look like a bishop - you were once a cur? or monk - you can't be
a revolutionary . . . . I have come to Metz with unlimited powers.
Public opinion here is not satisfactory. I am going to drill it. I
am going to set folks straight here. I mean to shoot, here in Metz,
as well as in Nancy, five or six hundred every fortnight."
The same at the house of General Bessi?res, commandant of the town
encountering there M. Cledat, an old officer, the second in command,
he measures him from head to foot:
"You look like a muscadin. Where did you come from? You must be a bad
republican - you look as if you belonged to the ancient r?gime."
"My hair is gray," he responds, "but I am not the less a good
republican: you may ask the General and the whole town."
"Be off! Go to the devil, and be quick about it, or I will have you
arrested!" -
The same, in the street, where he lays hold of a man passing, on
account of his looks; the justice of the peace, Joly, certifies to the
civism of this person, and he "eyes" Joly:
"You too, you are an aristocrat! I see it in your eyes! I never make
a mistake.
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